


The Gilded Cage

by thedeviltohisangel



Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-22
Updated: 2020-02-22
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:21:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22850926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thedeviltohisangel/pseuds/thedeviltohisangel
Summary: She was stoic the first time he saw her. Her hair twisted and pinned in a way he immediately thought looked constraining. Her face a pure white with the red markings that indicated her status as royalty. She was startlingly beautiful. Ethereal and not temporal. Tem knows, in that moment, that just because her cage was gilded made no difference.
Relationships: Clone Troopers & Original Female Character(s), Clone Troopers (Star Wars)/Original Character(s), Original Clone Trooper Character(s) & Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	The Gilded Cage

**Author's Note:**

  * For [pilotisms](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pilotisms/gifts).



Duty was something she understood perfectly. There were higher forms of loyalty than to oneself. There was time where that was hard for her to grasp. She didn’t want to. Her head was filled with so many ideas and the galaxy was filled with so many possibilities. She wanted the opportunity to explore them all. Wanted the freedom that came with it. The sense of anonymity that had escaped her ever since her sister had been elected queen all those years ago.

It was then, in her little ten year old mind, that she began to learn about institutions. That Theed Palace was more powerful in what it represented than what it actually was. That the intricate colors painted on her sister’s face symbolized much more than they looked like. That every piece of her life was now planned before it happened. Serendipity was gone. Coincidence was dead. Monotony in its place.

She does still enjoy the luxurious colors and fabrics that handmaidens drape on her body. Still feels the power of the Queens before her when a headpiece is fitted onto her. But she misses the ability to show emotion. Cry when she is sad. Smile when she is happy. Dance when the music is calling her name.

It was after the third attempt on her life that her sister had decided to intervene. This man had gotten too close. Had broached the inner circle to corner her at night. It was time to tighten the loop around the Queen of Naboo.

“I think I’ve found a suitable candidate to join your security team.” Padme was back for a short time from Coruscant. She was daintily eating a pear when the topic of security came up. Ophelie knew it would eventually.

“Is it some halfway trained Jedi?” Her sister was spending more and more time around the members of the order. She wouldn’t be surprised if she was looking to push one on her as well.

“No. A man Anakin met in Felucia. He was injured and is looking for somewhere safe to heal. I thought here would be the perfect place.”

“If he was injured, how am I to know he is a suitable guard for me?”

“Because I have seen him in battle myself. Spoken with him afterwards. He is decent and respectful and will not bend to your attitude the way those in the past have.” Ophelie gently laid down her utensils and dabbed at the corners of her mouth with a cloth.

“Is this about you controlling me then? It is because being a Senator is not as fulfilling as you thought?” Ophelie already felt controlled by advisors and the need to do what the people who elected her wanted. The last thing she needed was her sister planting someone in the palace to keep an eye on her and enact her agenda.

“I suggest you sleep on it. He will be here in the morning and I expect you to make a good first impression.”

\----

Tem hadn’t been able to shake the sour taste from his mouth. It was worse than anything he had scrounged for on the battlefield. Worse than any of the bland food they had fed him on Kamino. It was the word that kept ringing around his head that put the taste there. Reassigned. To him, it meant he had failed. His designated purpose was no longer achievable by him. He had been laid up in the medbay where the inkling of termination had crossed his mind. The stiffness of his leg and the vague burning in his abdomen weren’t going away with the bacta treatments. They had taken root within him. And when his Commander informed him they needed the space for more serious injuries, he took it like a shot to the chest.

Naboo was far away from the war zone but Tem knew it would touch all life eventually if it hadn’t by proxy already. His fellow soldiers had told him he was lucky to get out. Lucky to go to a land with flowing green grass and crystal water. At least they had heard that was how Naboo looked. Tem supposes he was lucky just to be able to see the world outside of Kamino and Geonosis and Felucia. 

She was stoic the first time he saw her. Her hair twisted and pinned in a way he immediately thought looked constraining. Her face a pure white with the red markings that indicated her status as royalty. She was startlingly beautiful. Ethereal and not temporal. Tem knows, in that moment, that just because her cage was gilded made no difference.

“Captain Tem, it so lovely to see you again.” Padme stepped forward and offered her hand.

“Senator. Your Majesty.” He bowed the way the Senator had showed him to before she left the medbay.

“Captain. It is an honor to have a soldier as skilled as yourself joining my household.” Ophelie couldn’t help but stare at him. Padme hadn’t warned her it was a clone but she should have gathered that herself. He didn’t look like any man she had met before. He was handsome in a way that made her extremities tingle. His eyes weren’t glazed over or power hungry the way other men’s were when they looked at her. It was unnerving. She no longer had the upper hand because she had never dealt with his kind before. “This is my handmaiden, Qui, and she will be showing you to your quarters.” Qui stepped forward and introduced herself.

“Right this way, Captain.” He bowed to excuse himself from the Queen’s presence before taking his bags and following the young woman towards Theed Palace.

“Do you think you can find it in yourself to tolerate him?” Padme asked as the Captain disappeared through the entryway.

“Did you warn him I am a challenging person to be around?” Her sister smirked her confirmation. “Yet you did not warn me about his eyes,” she whispered as she kept her gaze on the spot where had just been.

“What about them?” Padme asked with a furrowed brow.

“Out of all the men I have met since becoming Queen, he is the only who seems to have actually seen me.”

**Author's Note:**

> I am thinking this will be a one shot series and not chronological. So please send in any ideas for future chapters!


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